Let's see those '10 gardens
 

It's time to get started!
I need a lot of dirt moved so I got a tractor.
http://74.50.55.59/pics/nhtz25da-1.jpg
http://74.50.55.59/pics/nhtz25da-2.jpg
It's little but it's a hard worker.
http://74.50.55.59/pics/garden310.jpg

I'm going to build a bunch of raised boxes with screened bottoms to try to fight the gophers off.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Lance, I can just see you running around like Bill Murray in Caddyshack.

"Here Mr Gopher, gopher, gopher...."


;s

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I got some tomatoes, flowers and tobacco started. Not much to show yet.
Lisa and I still have to plant the rest of the seeds next weekend. I'll probably work on transplants then, too.
I need to carry myself out there and clean the garden up. I still have a couple months before I need to, but maybe if it's done I'll get broccoli and lettuce in before July. :)

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I think I killed close to 30 of them last year and they still ate all my potatoes.
I have blown one up, too. Last resort. Poison and repellents don't work.

Deer and gophers make it very challenging for me.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

:r

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

The tulips& crokus I planted at my ex-wife's house are about to pop. Part of me wants to go take them all out and put them in pots at my place.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I love a nice garden and this is not a garden per se but I have a squishy backyard due to Voles. Any thoughts? I have no problem killing them as I am not a PETA member.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

:r "The EX-games"
:lv

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Bought my first place in December and am thinking about giving a small garden a go - maybe some tomatoes, various peppers, some herbs ....

I read through the '09 gardens thread and saw some great-looking plots of land!

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I had a female black lab that used to eat moles and voles and mice all day long. She could hear them. She was especially brutal on nests. She'd dig them up and throw all the babies in the air and stomple them.
She wasn't really down with the PETA, either. :tu

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I feel like we have to hear the story involved in this one....

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Can I rent her for a couple of weekends?

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I can't seem to face up to the facts
Gophers like my garden so I
Can't relax
I can't eat 'cause the gophers got the vegies
Don't touch me I'm shootin' them in the hedges

Gopher Killer
Qu'est Que C'est
fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away
Gopher Killer
Qu'est Que C'est
fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa far better
Run run run run run run run away


;s

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I'd totally let the smelly old girl come over, but "had" is the key word here. I planted her and the ex-wife's cat from hell in that yard before we moved. That was a lot of years ago.
Her son is still living, I lost him in the divorce. He's not much of a mouser unless I throw them at him, but he doesn't stink.
If you can get an English Lab with a good nose, they are awesome mousers. Even a good English American cross. American bred labs, not so much.
I can't wait to get another one of those fat smelly buggers. I really miss my dog. His mom, not so much. :)

Q: What kind of woman would take a man's dog in a divorce?
A: The kind I divorce.
:tu

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I wish I could tell it.:D

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Been there done that Scott and can't say I'll ever do it again. As someone once said "Why would I want to break back into prison?"

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I've got enough experience that I think I can pick a little better nowadays, but I will admit it was a few years before I even gave it a thought. I do believe the newest is going to be around for a long, long time.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Mouse traps or poison bait.
http://voles.com/How_to_Kill_Voles.htm

Between the cats, dogs, owls, hawks, coyotes, ravens, snakes, bobcats, and other predators, voles don't seem to have a chance around here. The only time I see evidence of them is after the first meadow mowing. Then they are exposed.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

:banger Hooray! Killed the first gopher of the year. Last year it was something like 28 of them. This year I'm going for blocking them but they are still not welcome.

Almost through moving dirt around.
http://74.50.55.59/pics/garden310a.jpg

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I can't compete with you Lance...but I setup a small square foot garden yesterday...

http://cigar-review-site.com/garden/img_1289.jpg

http://cigar-review-site.com/garden/img_1290.jpg

http://cigar-review-site.com/garden/img_1291.jpg

http://cigar-review-site.com/garden/img_1295.jpg

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

This is not a competition, Luke, and square foot gardens are great. That is what I'm trying on a bigger scale. I will have 6 @ 4'x7's, 2 @ 4'x12's and 1 4'x6' boxes three 2x6s high. The 4x7 footers may be 4x8s if there is enough room. Our soil is not good for veggies and instead of adding amendments to it constantly I will just fill the boxes with good soil.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Very nice...that's a lot of soil!

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Lance, love the idea with screened bottoms. That should work.

Ken, as far as voles or moles, try this. CLICKY.

http://www.moleinator.com/files/1844...ole%20Trap.jpg

This thing has killed every mole I've ever had. My co-worker turned me on to it and she's killed dozens with it.

I'll be setting out the garden in a few weeks. Can't wait.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

So they like bump into the trigger plate, it trips the spring and the two scissor blades close, decapitating them or possibly even chopping them into three pieces?


Brutal.

Barbaric.

Medieval.


I ****ing love it! :tu

I'm gonna order one and I don't even have mole problems. If I turn it upside down, maybe I'll catch a cat with it.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Is that wire that sections off squares supposed to teach those plants a lesson on boundaries?

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Yeah! You stomp their main trail for a day or two. You'll come back and they'll have rooted the tunnel back open. That way, you know it's their main highway and they're actively tunneling. You insert the scissors in the tunnel and stomp the top flat. The little round plate sits on the ground directly over the flattened tunnel. I usually take a stick and try to ever-so-slightly lift up on the plate to give it a hair trigger. The next time they come tunneling through, their head hits the plate and BAM!. It doesn't cut the mole in half, but pinches the hell out of him. When you come out to check on it, if it's triggered, you pull the unit and mole out of the ground. He's either dead or close to dead. I caught one within 30 minutes one time. The best thing for mole eradication!!!

Here's a video. Not a killing, but setting it up. VIDEO

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Man that is one nice little tractor setup. Congratulations on that piece of equipment.:tu

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I love this scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv87T1CQF8E

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

This one gophs no more...:gn
http://74.50.55.59/pics/nogoph.jpg

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I'm pretty happy for Lance. Poor guy combed craigslist for a year.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Maybe 6 or 7 months. Little is the word. But it's strong for it's size. I would like to have had the next size up but so does everyone else. It will be back on CL when I'm through with it.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Anyone else got growth yet? I have tomato starts ready to go in as soon as I build the boxes. The wood just got delivered yesterday. Pics to follow.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Lisa and I are transplanting all our stuff right now.
So far we've done:
Osteospermum
Broccoli
Borage
Dill
Impatiens
Nicotiana
Tobacco
Basil
Cilantro
Tons of other stuff to go yet. I had to stop for a cinnamon toast crunch break and she's talking to one of her girlfriends.
I know there's tomatoes and peppers and some more flowers and herbs yet. Some of the herbs are a pita to transplant, they're too small yet. I might skip them till next weekend.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Luke and Lance, those are some nice start ups!

Luke, I really like those boxes. That is a cool idea.

Lance, we have a possium problem as well. We already trapped our first one, a couple weeks back. We saw him working during the day with the dirt flipping up. Wes, myself, and Lil Sledn went outside. Wes grabbed the shovel and started digging up the tunnel. He dug the critter up. It dropped off the shovel though, fell back in the tunnel and kept moving the dirt. That's when we saw how quick those things actually work. Wes put a metal trap in the ground. It was caught. A dog who roams our neighborhood actually pulled the trap out of the ground trying to get to the now deceased critter.

As for our garden... My daffodils and crocus's bloomed already. None of my tulips flowered this years. My lillies are starting to pop through the dirt. My wild lillies are going crazy. Clematis's are growing like gangbusters right now. Rose bushes, lilacs, and hydrangeas's are all growing well. Strawberry's from last year are still holding well too.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Three boxes built now, six to go.
This was earlier today.
http://74.50.55.59/pics/garden410.jpg

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Ow, I hurt...
http://74.50.55.59/pics/garden410a.jpg
This better produce a LOT of vegetables.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

No photos right now, but just noticed that the first of my Thai peppers are peeking through 10 up, only 190 left to go. :wo

All the other peppers are doing fine too.

Tomatoes are doing well, looks like I'll be setting cages for them tomorrow.

Have a few snap peas that are setting fruit now, but the way the temperatures go around here, I doubt I'll see more than a handful of yield from the 10-11 pea plants that I have.

Have about a gazillion dead snails and slugs around the pots now too. I knew Corey's Snail & Slug bait worked, but I never realized it worked that well... I think these snails and slugs are migrating from the entire neighborhood to my place for the free buffet of death... MuwwwwahahahahAHAHAHAHA!

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I started my garden the 2nd week im March. Its a 12x12' I added an additional patch thats 2x16' but its more shaded now by my muscadine vine that covers the whole back fence 100' worth and about 12' outward. Pics of that soon. The shaded part hasn't produced much this year due to lack of sun.

But here is a few pics I took today.

Picture of the left side, this is the side facing my house, I had to put up a 3foot fence to keep my dogs out of it. Last year I covered the whole garden (top and sides) with bird neting; but it was more of a pain than it was worth. So this year I used chicken wire.
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/z.../DSCN25395.jpg

This is my bush beans. I have two rows of black beans and two rows of green beans. In the background are my burpless cucumbers and a weird type called a pepino cucumber. It looks more like a hairy lemon than anything.
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/z.../DSCN25405.jpg


This is a pic facing my house and its the right side of the garden facing inward.
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/z.../DSCN25465.jpg

CLose up of my green beans
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/z.../DSCN25445.jpg

I used Osmocote plant and vegetable fertilizer early march when I was tilling the soil. The soil is a mix of Cow manure, potting soil and some humus. Started everything from seeds on 4-6" tall rows for good drainage. Then, once the plants became established, I used some 8-8-8 on them before a good rainstorm. They get about 10-15 mins of watering from a timered sprinkler everyday in the evening time, so they don't get burnt by the summer sun. I see so many people watering thier yards/gardens during the day and it ends up being burnt from the sun burning the water left on the plants in the day. Thats why I choose to water at late evening.

I also have about 12-15 pepper plants in pots in my front yard. Yellow banana peppers, bell peppers.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Only one and a half boxes to go. Next I will put up more fence to keep the deer out.
http://74.50.55.59/pics/garden0510a.jpg

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

My plants are pretty much out of control. They're getting SO big.
The weather is supposed to be crappy till Saturday, then Summer is here. I'll move my plants out to harden them off between now and then.
My tobacco looks great. I'll try to find time to get some pics and post them. Maybe a video or something. That's usually a lot quicker and covers lots more ground. :)
My tobacco plants look spectacular. I'm totally stoked about getting them in the dirt. :tu

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Got several pictures to share. Sorry for being long-winded. I love gardening and can chat about it for days. Plus, I'm proud of my little piece of Heaven. For those that remember my 16'x15' from last year, it's still here, except I replaced the 18" rabbit fence with a 36" wire and wooden fence. My beagle, Fritz, is of no use in the garden, so he is barred. He is a great squirrel deterrent, though. I planted 4/10. I've had to replant the orka, as it was cool for the first few weeks and it was old seed. They are still only a couple of inches high. Hot weather will kick them. Also, the past couple of years I gone the no-till route as Shilala does. I used to till a couple of times a year, but now just put lawnmower bagger waste around and work it in with a garden rake. A square foot, six inches deep can supply a double handful of giant earthworms. It's so cool how awesome this plot of earth is.

6 tomatoes (4 Celebrity, 1 Silvery Fir Tree, and 1 Micro Tom)
4 hills squash
6 peppers (3 jalapeno, 1 Cuban, and 2 bell)
6 small rows of bush beans
2 small rows fo Clemson spineless okra
dozens of Marketmore 75 cukes on the trellis
Several varieties of sunflowers around the edge

To me, a garden is not complete without feathered friends. I took a shot of my homemade birdfeeder. The wire around the main feeder keeps the ocassional squirrel, bluejay, and crackle at bay. It's got:

Black oil sunflower
Safflower
Peanuts (shelled and whole)
Oriole feedr with nectar and jelly
Two kins of suet
Two socks of Niger thistle

Here's the visitors since last summer (at least the ones I've seen):

Robin
Mourning dove
Cardinal
Carolina wren
Titmouse
Black-capped chickadee
Carolina chickadee
Red-bellied woodpecker
Grey catbird
Painted bunting
Red finch
House finch
Goldfinch
Baltimore oriole
Brown thrasher
Yellow rumped warbler
Mockingbird
Grackle
Bluejay
Starling
Red headed woodpecker
Eastern bluebird

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...69/51110a1.jpg
Three plum and giant peach tree behind the fence. The peach tree loaded us up last year.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...69/51110b1.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...69/51110c1.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...69/51110d1.jpg
6'x2' herb garden. More mint than anything. There's chives, leeks, rosemary, and at least 5 kinds of mint. Tech-ninja turned me on to Mojitos a while back and I enjoy them all the time now thanks to my over-abundant supply.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...69/51110e1.jpg

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...69/51110i1.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t...69/51110k1.jpg

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

The birds don't eat up your tomatoes??

They used to tear into mine as soon as they got ripe and i had to use bird netting to keep them out......... bad thing was, is i don't eat tomatoes~

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Still haven't set cages for my tomato plants. A few of them are taking off like rockets, so I better get on that sometime in the next week.

On the flip side in the past week I've done some major trimming of the non-fruit bearing trees, ripped out two useless gaddam crepe myrtles, added a second pomegranate tree (wonderful varietal), a meyer lemon and probably going to put in a blackjack fig in the next few days.

Was going to put some blackberry bushes, but the nursery advised me to wait until fall.

Oh, and even more dead snails. :wo

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Howdy fellow gardeners! I see everyone is getting started again for a new season. Best time of the year :tu I don't have much of a garden this year with a limited amount of space since I moved. Good news is that the dogs killed their first squirrel at the new house so they are ready to rid the varmints of the strawberry patch.

This year I have a small handful of pepper plants, strawberries, three tomato plants, basil and two rosemary bushes.

Looking forward to seeing everyones progress and Scotts videos! :tu

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I'll have to post pics of my raised beds. I have two 4x8 and one 4x4. Did most of my planting last weekend. I only did two tomato plants, as the five I planted last year produced just way too much. i was literally calling people to come pick what they wanted.

What I've planted so far this year:
Red Brandywine
Black Krim
Eggplant
Bell Pepper
Broccoli
Bush Cucumbers
Leaf lettuce
And my garlic I seeded last October is growing like gangbusters. Can't wait to try it. And I have a couple open spots I'm still trying to figure out what to plant. Might do tomatillos again. They made excellent salsa verde and subsequent green chicken chili.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Finally starting to get some growth. Very late spring for this area.
This was all scrub and meadow weeds when I moved in. I built all the landscape and my wife mostly maintains it.
http://74.50.55.59/pics/garden0510b.jpg

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Love the view you have there Lance. Spectacular :tu

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

I pulled out a 18" around deep bowl full of green beens already and going to pull more after dinner when it cools down.
My cucumbers are running everywhere and almost taking over the garden! I plan to extend out the garden next year and make a trellis for them to grow up an away from the other plants.
The Okra is getting big, but I doubt I will have enough to make many meals with them. About 1/3 didn't come up for some reason.
I have gotten three handfuls of sweet banana peppers and two green bell peppers so far.

Next year I am going to focus on two types of cucumbers, green beens, banana and bell peppers... Going to spread out the garden more and build a trellis so we can walk in it better and not be so crowded.

Re: Let's see those '10 gardens
 

Man, I'll tell you what....the weather up here in Nor Cal has sucked for the veggies so far. Dont get me wrong, I love the rain. Keep it coming, fill our lakes. But we have not had a day over 70* here in two weeks. Its been cloudy or foggy for a month. My plants are screamin for sun. I like all the rain but my veggies want to grow.